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Toast · Today, 15:26

So I am close to moving out of my parents house (I am going to community college and working at McDonalds) and I was looking at prices of houses in my hometown in SoCal, small town, about 15,000 people, and the cheapest 2 bedroom 1 bath house to buy is $88,000. Now, the average Passport 40 is $80-$100k, for an extra $10k, I could have one of the best seagoing houses available, and since I am pretty mechanically inclined, most of the repairs I could do myself. The only problem that I could foresee is work, but since I am going to school for Mechanical Engineering and there is an aerospace company in the town over that most of their engineers work from home. I also know many of their engineers so I might be able to get a few good references. How does living on a boat make so much sense here or am I missing something huge?
Cool Runnings,
Toast

Franziska · Today, 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast

So I am close to moving out of my parents house (I am going to community college and working at McDonalds) and I was looking at prices of houses in my hometown in SoCal, small town, about 15,000 people, and the cheapest 2 bedroom 1 bath house to buy is $88,000. Now, the average Passport 40 is $80-$100k, for an extra $10k, I could have one of the best seagoing houses available, and since I am pretty mechanically inclined, most of the repairs I could do myself. The only problem that I could foresee is work, but since I am going to school for Mechanical Engineering and there is an aerospace company in the town over that most of their engineers work from home. I also know many of their engineers so I might be able to get a few good references. How does living on a boat make so much sense here or am I missing something huge?
Cool Runnings,
Toast

Unfortunately, marina costs and place availability, as it sounds like.

Toast · Today, 15:33

Sure, I have considered those, but you also have the equivalent problem in a house with bills and gas for your car, and insurance for both those things (I know you also need insurance for your boat).

**JPA Cate** · Today, 16:03

Toast, see if there are any liveaboard berths for a Passport 40 and yourself in your area. If your boat's not easily accessible for the days you have to be at the workplace, you'll wind up wanting to have some form of transport, might be a motor scooter, but you'll want SOMEthing, and there'll be storage issues for it, also. You'll need to run the numbers on costs to tell if it is more cost effective to try the boat; usually it works out living on land is preferred. Remember to include Calif.'s tax on boats: they are taxed as real estate, and it's a biggish percentage, that is commonly considered a tax on people wealthy enough to have a yacht and a house, there are no tax breaks about it. The law allows CA to tax you until the vessel is registered in another State, and you have to document for CA that it is registered.

As to the equivalent of home upkeep, failure to do upkeep on the boat can lead to sinking, so it has to be done. Deferring it is more risky.

One of the moderators here is Trente Pieds, who is also an accountant. He has often written about the costs of boat ownership. Try a CF Custom Google Search with his screen name and boat ownership costs, and consider what you have read.

Ann

Toast · Today, 16:09

The days that they need you at the job, they will fly you out and put you in a hotel, I plan to leave California soon, so I'll have to look into the taxes on boat purchases in other states.

sailorboy1 · Today, 16:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast

So I am close to moving out of my parents house (I am going to community college and working at McDonalds) and I was looking at prices of houses in my hometown in SoCal, small town, about 15,000 people, and the cheapest 2 bedroom 1 bath house to buy is $88,000.

Wow a 2BR house in SoCal for $88k

You should buy that!

Toast · Today, 16:22

Ha, no, I like my house to built out of wood, not sawdust and plastic.
(edit: looked at the sq footage and its 800 lol)

Calif.Ted · Today, 16:59

Boats in California are subject to annual "unsecured" property tax to the county in which they are located at the same rate as "secured" property (real estate). A little under 1 percent, a boat assessed at about $65,000 is taxed $615.